Steve Bruce was once told an hour before leaving for a game that a player had joined another club.
It was only a few months before he took on his first managerial role in the 1998/99 season.
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Almost three decades later, the former defender has refereed over 1,000 games, including 477 in the Premier League.
He is now without a club, having been released by Blackpool in October after 13 months in charge.
However, Bruce had already moved to Sheffield United as player-manager at the start of the 1998 season.
Although he would play his final game in November 1998, Bruce remained in the dugout until the end of the season.
Surprising transfer outcome
However, his time at the club was not without its challenges, including one in the build-up to a trip to Bristol City on December 5, 1998.
Bruce has revealed he had picked The Pitch Prospect’s Dean Saunders for the game, only to learn he had been sold before kick-off.
The striker left the team’s hotel to fly to Portugal and join Benfica an hour before the game.
Speaking to Hawksbee and Jacobs on Monday, Bruce recalled the interaction when he was asked if he had ever been told this by the club hierarchy about team selection during his managerial career.
The former Premier League coach explained: “I had the question: ‘Why did you play against that team?'” Unfortunately you did.
“Even when I came back, Dean Saunders was my first manager.
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“We played against Bristol City and I have to say this about Dean, he is a good player on the radio and I enjoyed managing him for a short period of time.”
“But we’re playing Bristol City away and he’s going to play, he’s playing. I’m the manager and I haven’t played for a few months and I’m the player-manager.”
“I could hear him walking through the tunnel, through the hotel, and it was about an hour (before he left), and he was whistling and singing to himself and I said, ‘Dean, we’re not leaving for another hour, why do you have your bags with you?’
“He said, ‘Nobody told you?’ I said, “Told me something?” He said: “I just signed for Benfica.” I said, ‘What? Just signed for Benfica?’ He said: “Yes, I’m coming from Heathrow at half past two.”
“He says, ‘Thank you Steve, it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ and walks through the door and I thought, ‘Who should I call?’
“It was my first job in management and I thought, ‘Wow, wow, what am I going to do about this?’ And it was very, very difficult for me to tell you.
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Saunders had scored ten goals in just 23 appearances under Bruce for the Blades before his sudden departure.
United subsequently lost 2-0 to Bristol City, while the Welsh striker’s move to Benfica was completed three days later.
During his time in Portugal, Saunders scored five goals in 19 games before returning to England to join Bradford City the following summer.
Bruce’s Blades finished the season in eighth place in the First Division, now known as the Championship.
After being nine points behind the play-offs, he left the club at the end of the season for Huddersfield Town.
This was followed by 54 games in charge at Bramall Lane, in which he won 22 times.